"My point is to do a very small, simple movie, with recognizable,
marketable mainstream stars," he told Yahoo! Philippines OMG! at the
exclusive media screening of his Cinemalaya Directors Showcase entry,
"Mga Mumunting Lihim" at Greenbelt 3's My Cinema on Saturday, July 14.
"Because what I want to introduce, which others have done before me,
but will hopefully push further, is 'maindie.' That is using mainstream
actors (in indie films) doing things that they cannot do in commercial
movies," he continued, while enumerating examples like Tom Cruise in
"Magnolia" and Brad Pitt in "Tree of Life."
Direk Joey's first-ever Cinemalaya film features stars that the
festival has not yet seen in its lineup, the likes of Janice de Belen,
Agot Isidro, Iza Calzado and Judy Ann Santos. They play friends who are
coping with loss while discovering each other.
"This time—I'll be blunt about it—I'll use my influence in mainstream
to bring them to Cinemalaya and hopefully, they can bring in their
audience and their audience will be exposed to all the other Cinemalaya
movies.
"Wouldn't that be great? If they can just go to the CCP, go to
Trinoma, or to Greenbelt because they're fans of Judy Ann, of Janice, of
Agot of Iza and then they realize, 'wow there are other films here.'
And they learn to appreciate that, then we'd have succeeded."
He also revealed that the four main actors of his film believed in
him enough ask for nothing in return, working with him just for the love
of it.Tribute
While introducing "Mga Mumunting Lihim" to the media, Direk Joey said
that the film is very personal to him. And later in the interview with
Yahoo! Philippines OMG! he shared that the story is inspired by the loss
of his two dear friends, Khryss Adalia and Don Escudero.
"Last year, I lost one of my closest friends to cancer. And two years
or so before that, another also passed away because of cancer."
He shared that it was the passing of Don Escudero last year that made
him think of a lot of things, things about friendship that are captured
and addressed in "Mga Mumunting Lihim."
"Losing him made me realize so many things about a. mortality, b. the
value of friendship, and c. how volatile friendship is. And I wanted to
do a movie to celebrate (these things), and I know I can't do that on
mainstream," he explained.Tasting freedom
When asked if he will be doing more "maindies" after his indie debut,
Direk Joey responded with enthusiasm: "I hope so. I really, really,
really hope so. I hope that there would be other producers who would
take the risk as what Boss Orly (Ilacad) did in giving me the liberty to
do my next indie."
But, he said, "do I shut my doors, as far as commercial films are
concerned? No, I don't! I would still want to do mainstream movies but
maybe it will be a little more difficult this time because after all
these years, I've tasted freedom. And it's hard to go back."